(a) "Employee" means any individual employed by an employer.
(b) "Employer" includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.
(c) "Employ" includes to suffer or permit to work.
(d) "Occupation" includes any industry, trade, business or branch thereof, or any employment or class of employment.
(e) "Director" means the director of the department of workforce services or his designee who is authorized to administer W.S. 27-4-301 through 27-4-304.
(f) "Person" includes one (1) or more individuals, partnerships, corporations, associations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers.
27-4-302. Prohibition on paying employees less for same work.
(a) No employer shall discriminate, within the same establishment in which the employees are employed, between employees on the basis of gender by paying wages to employees at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to employees of the opposite gender for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where the payment is made pursuant to:
(iii) A system which measures earning by quantity or quality of production; or
(iv) A differential based on any other factor other than gender.
27-4-303. Liability of employer generally; liquidated damages; individual and group actions; assignment of claim.
(a) An employer who violates the provisions of W.S. 27-4-302 shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid wages, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. Action to recover liability may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one (1) or more employees for and in behalf of the employee or the employees and other employees similarly situated, and no agreement by the employee to work for less than the wage to which the employee is entitled under this act shall be a defense to any action.
(b) Upon receipt of a written claim by any employee of a violation of this act, the director shall process, investigate and determine the validity of the claim. The director shall have power to join various claims against the same employer in one (1) claim. If either the employer or employee is aggrieved by the director's determination, the aggrieved party may request a fair hearing. The aggrieved party must file a written request for hearing within fifteen (15) calendar days of receipt of the director's determination. Upon receipt of a timely submitted request for hearing, the director shall appoint an independent hearing officer to conduct the fair hearing between the employer and employee. The fair hearing shall be conducted pursuant to the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act. The hearing officer's determination shall constitute the director's final agency action. Upon a finding by the hearing officer that the claim is valid, the director shall order the employer to pay the amount of wages due plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. Where the employer failed to appeal an adverse determination to the district court and failed to comply with the director's order, the director shall refer the matter to the appropriate county attorney for enforcement of the director's order.
27-4-304. Penalty for violations.
Any employer who willfully violates any provision of this act, or who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because the employee has made any complaint to his employer, the director or any other person, or instituted, or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this act, or has testified or is about to testify in the proceedings, shall, upon conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, or both.